Another Fourth of July!
by Nairobi-Harper
Summary: The Rugrats are celebrating another Fourth of July! This time, however, there are plans for fireworks to be banned in Yucaipa, and they sure aren't happy about that.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: This will be my first official time writing a Rugrats holiday story, I believe. Is it not rather hilarious that I have been writing since February of this year, yet this is my first time doing such a story and it's already July? I released this story a day before the actual holiday because surely, most of you would be out celebrating the Fourth of July. I know that I will not be on fanfiction that day. I shall be spending time with my family and having BBQ for dinner. Not sure what you guys will be doing, but I hope that it ends up being a good holiday for you. This story will end up having about ten chapters. It will surely have ended by July sixth or seventh and the first two chapters shall be uploaded today.

You'll notice that in this story, Didi and Stu have been arguing a lot. This is foreshadowing one of my future stories, just so you know. I won't tell you the plot, but you might be able to guess.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rugrats or its characters. They proudly belong to Nickelodeon and Klasky Csupo. I am just a fan writing for the series.

Another Fourth of July

Prologue

It had been about a week since Tommy's second birthday, and another important event would take place. This event was the Fourth of July.

Everyone who lived in Yucaipa knew about this certain date of celebration, and most people celebrated it. It seemed that the Pickles family was aware of this, since they threw a Fourth of July BBQ every year. This, of course, meant that they would be throwing a BBQ party this year, as well.

At the moment, though, it still was not the Fourth of July. Technically speaking, it was the thirtieth of June. It was rather early for such a day, though, as it were twelve in the morning.

Despite this, the Pickles' eldest son, Tommy, was awake on the couch, watching a Reptar movie with his eyes wide and a smile on his face. The boy had always had a love for Reptar. He was aware of the fact that he was awake way past his bedtime, although about four hours before, it had been announced that a repeat of the Reptar movie would be airing, and Tommy would hate to miss it.

Neither of Tommy's parents had realized that their two-year old son was awake, watching Reptar. He was five minutes into it so far, and he was enjoying it, which was why he wouldn't go off to bed yet. However, that wouldn't make him deny that he was tired. He had to keep his eyes from closing just about every two minutes.

His progenitors, however, had a reason for not realizing that he was still awake. It had been because they were attending to their younger son, Dil. Before they could put Tommy to bed, Dil began crying, seemingly having had a nightmare. Their first instinct was, of course, to forget about their son for the time being since they were so tired, and to deal with Dil's crying.

Tommy, meanwhile, had been enjoying an episode of the Reptar television series with his dog, Spike, next to him. He was cuddled up with both his Reptar doll and his dog. Why, if he could have, he would have made popcorn, too. Surely, however, his parents would then realize that he were still awake, and send him off to bed. Since this was a new Reptar episode, he didn't want that happening.

"Reptar," Tommy whispered while staring at the screen.

Even at two-years old, Tommy was sure that Reptar was his hero. After all, Reptar usually saved the day and he was indeed rather strong.

By the time that his younger brother had finally gone back to sleep, the show had just about ended and Tommy couldn't stand staying awake any longer. He refused to sleep on the carpet, because that would simply be uncomfortable. In addition to that, who would reject the chance of sleeping in a soft, warm, bed as opposed to the rough carpet?

Tommy couldn't speak yet, and his father had installed a lock on his crib. The toddler boy began crying, feeling that it was all that he could do. While crying, he accidentally changed the station to the news channel, which made him cry even harder.

"Oh, no," Didi said from the living room after she had the first few cries. "I forgot to put Tommy to bed."

"You forgot?" Stu asked. "I thought you put him to bed already!"

"Stu, this is no time for arguing," Didi groaned. "Tommy needs to get to bed, and soon. Come on, we'll have to look for him."

Her tired husband sighed, and nodded. The two walked around the house, looking for Tommy. Eventually, Didi managed to trace Tommy's crying to the living room.

"Stu! He's in here!" Didi shouted.

Sighing, the redheaded woman picked her older son up and comforted him, singing a quiet lullaby called "Brahms Lullaby." Yes, even at age two, lullabies still calmed her son down. He stopped crying.

However, as soon as he stopped crying, Dil started crying. Tommy, feeling upset about making his brother cry, joined. Why, they could be a chorus of criers with such voices!

Their mother, clearly tired and annoyed, felt like screaming. She had two baby boys in her arms, screaming rather loudly, and their father still hadn't come into the darn room!

"Stu, what the heck are you doing?" Didi complained.

She received no such response from her husband, and tried to sing a lullaby to her two children.

It seemed rather coincidental that as soon as she finished singing, her husband ran into the room, smiling.

"Ups, looks like ya got the kids to sleep on your own," Stu said with a rather guilty smile.

Didi, meanwhile, gave him a deadpan look and, without saying anything, handed him Tommy and Dil. Feeling that her work for the night was finished, she walked out of the room, looking pleased with herself.

"What? Deed? Deed, I can't get them to bed on their own! _Deed_!"

Realizing that he had lost whatever argument he had unknowingly gotten into, Stu glanced down at his two children. He was about to walk them into their room, until he heard the reporter on the television say something along the words of "fireworks banned."

"Fireworks banned?" Stu asked himself. "I have got to see this!"

Since Dil couldn't sit up all that well, he simply lay on his back while trying to figure out what his father was talking about. At twenty-four months, Tommy could sit up pretty well, and simply sat on his bottom.

Meanwhile, their father turned up the volume to the television set.

"I am Brady Simpson, and I had recently been told about fireworks and firecrackers being banned in all of California," The news reporter announced. "It is indeed a rather shocking discovery. We have had fireworks in California for quite some time."

Stu's eyes widened. "No fireworks? Then where is July the Fourth going?"

"Yes, Brady, fireworks being prohibited in California is rather amazing," Connie Simmons exclaimed. "However, the law has not been passed yet. With hope, it will be passed right before the Fourth of July, according to our town mayor. The idea had first been suggested about ten years ago, although this news was not released until three days ago…"

At this point, Stu muted and turned off the television set, and his two children sat there, annoyed and tired, just as their mother had been earlier.

"No fireworks," Stu mumbled to himself, having forgotten that his children were there. "What are they thinking?"

Tommy, fed up with his father, groaned. At this sound, Stu turned around and remembered that Tommy and Dil were still on the couch. Noticing this, he picked them both up, carrying them into their bedroom. He unlocked the crib and put them in, before locking it again. He sang them a quiet lullaby, and once he was sure that they were asleep, he left.

With that, Tommy and Dil had very, very, good dreams that night.


	2. Chapter Two

Author's note: Thanks for the support, you guys! I will respond to your reviews after I post this chapter, and then I will work on chapter four of HBT (Happy birthday, Tommy!) Speaking of which, if you have not read chapter three of that story yet, which I released nearly a day ago, I suggest that you do so!

Disclaimer: While I am indeed using the characters from Rugrats in my story, I do not own Rugrats. The wonderful show belongs to Nickelodeon. OC-wise, Zack belongs to celrock, and Jesse belongs to Jesse Barrow Stories. I hope that I portrayed Jesse well! TCKing12's OC Peter will appear in the next chapter.

 **Another fourth of July!**

 **Chapter two**

The next morning, things went as usual. Tommy and Dil ate breakfast, Stu worked on his toys in the basement, and Didi fixed herself a cup of coffee because of her boys' crying last night.

That afternoon, Didi prepared herself to watch over the Rugrats, as she had promised their legal guardians that she would watch them today. After all, she had them at her house nearly every day, and it wasn't as if she would be going anywhere.

Not only that, although Didi had recently met two adults, Laura and Dana Barrow. They were mother and father to their two-year old son, Jesse Barrow. They had recently moved into Yucaipa, and the Pickles family was more than happy to welcome them, especially since Jesse was the same age as their own son, Tommy.

Jesse's mother, Laura, had asked Didi if she could watch Jesse, and Didi had happily agreed, as she wanted the children to get to know Jesse, since they would surely be seeing a lot of him now that he and his family had moved into their home.

One by one, the babies and toddlers entered her home. Their parents, however, left, since they were all busy. Once she was sure that everyone was there, she picked up the toddlers and put them in the playpen.

"Now, you all be good until Angelica arrives," Didi told them.

As usual, they cringed at the sound of Angelica's name. Jesse, however, didn't know Angelica that well though, and as far as he knew, she was just Tommy's four-year old cousin. The others, however, seemed to dislike her.

And just as the Rugrats cringed like they usually did, Didi didn't notice that they had cringed, as she usually didn't. Feeling that she had gotten her point across, Didi was about to leave the room until her husband, Stu, came walking in, huge bags under his eyes and looking stressed.

"What's wrong, Stu?" Didi asked.

"What's wrong?" Stu yelled. "What's _wrong_?"

"Stu," Didi whispered, glancing at the kids who were indeed staring at the two adults, looking confused and a bit worried. "The kids are _right there_. They might get the wrong idea if you start yelling, and Dil might even start crying! You don't want a repeat of last night, do you?"

"No, no"! Stu said, noticeably quieter this time. "Deed, not only do I have to make a new toy by the Fourth of July – which is in four days, might I add – they're also banning fireworks, if you forgot!"

"I understand why you're so worried about making a toy in four days, but didn't they warn you before this morning?" Didi asked.

"No, Deed, I got the email this morning!" Stu shouted. "My life is _over_!"

"Stu, be quiet," Didi ordered. "Come on; let's discuss this in the kitchen until the King of Confederacy comes over for tea. While I am worried about you, it's not professional for a king to come to your house and see you running around."

"Peter's coming over!" Stu shouted even louder.

" _Stu_ ," Didi warned as she led her husband into the kitchen.

Once they were gone, the group began talking.

"What was that?" Jesse asked.

"I don't know, but I do know is that my mommy and daddy don't do that too much," Tommy insisted.

"Yeah, I've never seen your mommy and daddy do that before," Zack pointed out.

"I never knew that your daddy could raise his voice so high, Tommy," Chuckie said. "It was kind of scary."

"Chuckie, you think everything is scary," Lil pointed out. "Plus, everyone can raise their voice really high, right?"

"Yeah, I agree with Lil," Zack said.

They quieted down after this talk, wondering what they could do next.

"You guys go on adventures a lot, right?" Jesse asked.

"Yeah," Zack responded.

"What's our next 'venture?" He asked.

This was something that they hadn't thought of. It wasn't as if they planned their adventures every day, ideas usually came to them based on what was happening. Jesse, however, was right. They needed to do something, as it would be boring to sit around, kicking the ball. Chuckie, however, suggested this next.

"Well, maybe we shouldn't go on no adventure today, guys, maybe we should just do somethin' safe, you know, like kicking your big bouncy ball, Tommy," Chuckie suggested. "No one ever gets hurt if we do that."

"No, Chuckie, that's too boring," Tommy decided.

"Yeah, Chuckie, have some fun," Zack said.

"Well, gee, I don't see _you_ guys coming up with any 'gestions," Chuckie snapped.

"We're thinking, Chuckie," Zack told him. "That's why it's taking so long."

After about another two minutes of thinking, Phil came up with something.

"Hey!" Phil said. "How bout we go outside and pick worms?"

"Nah, we do that all the time," Tommy pointed out. "We need a betterer idea."

"Wait, Tommy, I think something's coming to me," Zack said.

"Really?" Tommy asked with a smile.

"Well, Zack, we're all lookin' forward to whatever you have to say, cuz you're real smart!" Kimi complimented.

Zack flashed the cute , bubbly, little girl next to him a smile.

"Thanks, Kimi," Zack told her. "Well, Tommy, 'member what your daddy was talking about earlier?"

"Yeah, 'bout how he has to make a new toy in time for the Fourth of July and how fire works are bein' ban or something," Tommy said.

"Well, maybe we could spend our next few days up 'til the Fourth of July trying to make sure that fire works aren't ban," Zack said, pleased with his idea.

The others seemed pleased with it, too.

"See, Zack!" Kimi exclaimed happily. "I told you that you're smart!"

Therefore, for the time being, the Rugrats had a new goal; make sure that the law to ban fireworks would not be passed that very year in that very town.


	3. Chapter Three

Author's note: I have decided to upload two chapters today since yesterday was the Fourth of July and I never updated. In this chapter, Angelica finally appears, as does Peter, King of Confederacy.

Disclaimer: I am sure that anyone reading this knows that Rugrats belongs to Nickelodeon. Zack belongs to celrock, Jesse belongs to Jesse Barrow stories, and Peter belongs to TCKing12.

 **Another Fourth of July**

 **Chapter three**

After they had formed the idea to save fireworks in Yucaipa, the Rugrats were currently forming their plan.

"So, guys, how are we going to do this?" Jesse asked.

"Well, I was thinkin' that we could stay out of this and, you know, play ball," Chuckie suggested.

"Chuckie, we already agreed that we aren't going to play ball," Zack reminded him. "So you might as well stop asking."

Chuckie, feeling defeated, sighed.

"Okay, guys, but, I'm still not sure if this is such a good idea," Chuckie said.

"Trust me on this, Chuckie," Tommy told him. "I'm sure that it's not _too_ dangerous."

"Yeah," Kimi agreed. "Tommy's right. 'Sides, we've faced worser stuff."

"Well, okay," Chuckie said, deciding to stay quiet for the rest of the time.

"Anyway, we need to be able to do something that could actually happen," Tommy reminded them.

"Yeah, it can't be dumb," Phil said.

"Uh huh, it has to be real smart, just like Tommy said," Lil added.

"Phil, Lil, I actually think Tommy meant you two the most," Zack told the pair. "I mean, you two always come up with weird ideas, along with Dil."

"Hey!" The three shouted.

"Well, sorry for 'fending you, but it's true," Zack claimed.

"Guys, guys, this isn't the time for arguing," Tommy interrupted. "We're 'sposed to be helping my daddy save fire works, not 'fending each other."

"Well, sorry Tommy, I was just telling the truth," Zack pointed out.

"Yeah, it is kind of true," Chuckie said quietly.

Before the twins and the younger baby could show their anger at Chuckie being on Zack's side, Tommy, once again, interrupted them.

"Guys, what did I just say?" Tommy questioned. "That I wanted you all to be quiet and say your ideas, that's what! I said to stop arguin', too! So if you really want to have fun today then just say your ideas, and get on with it!"

They were all silent for a moment, taking in what Tommy had said. Realizing that they were ruining his fun, they decided not to say anything else about the argument for now.

"Well, it's gots to be something that will make them want to put fire works back," Lil reminded them. "Cuz since none of us are even four, we can't write and Zack's the only one who's even close to knowing how to read, long with Chuckie who can read a few words."

"Uh huh," Chuckie agreed. "Like cat, fat, bat, and scat – anything that rhymes with cat, I can read it!"

"Fire works doesn't rhyme with cat, though, so sorry Chuckie, but that won't be much help," Zack told him.

"Wait, Lil saided that we can't read or write, but who says that we can't draw?" Kimi asked.

"Draw?" Phil asked.

"Oh, I think I know what Kimi means!" Jesse exclaimed. "Why don't we all draw pictures for whoever wants to ban fire works?"

"Uh huh, they can't say no to a few cute babies!" Lil acknowledged.

"Well, at least we're doin' somethin' safe like drawing," Chuckie said happily. "I thought we were gonna do something really dangerous."

What Zack said next, however, would contradict Chuckie's former statement.

"As great of an idea as that is, we can't just go along with it now," Zack told them. "First of all, do we even know who's banning fire works?"

There was no answer from anyone, because Zack was right; no one knew. All they had known was that fireworks were being banned.

"That's what I thought," Zack said. "Second of all, once we do find out, how are we gonna get there?"

Once again, nothing though crickets could be heard.

"That's exactly what I thought. So, first let's come up with places to find our info."

"Hey," Jesse said after a moment, "isn't there something on TV where these growed ups tell us stuff?"

"Oh, yeah, there is," Chuckie said, agreeing with Jesse. "My daddy watches it all the time, I just forgotted the name of it."

"Isn't it called the… the… news?" Zack asked.

"Yeah, that!" Jesse exclaimed. "We gotta look at the news! Why don't we get out of this place and go watch it?"

"Good idea, Jesse!" Zack responded. "Tommy, do you still gots the screwdriver?"

"Do I ever not?" Tommy asked, pulling the screwdriver out of his diaper. "C'mon, guys, we're goin' on a 'venture to the TV room!"

They all wandered out of the playpen, off to the TV room. Coincidentally, at around the same time as this was happening, Peter Albany, King of Confederacy, rung the doorbell. He was supposed to have tea with Stu and Didi, perhaps to discuss a few things. However, he was five minutes late, thanks to traffic.

Didi walked to the door, attempting to quiet her husband down. He was literally pulling out same of his hair, he was so stressed.

"Stu, stop it, it's not healthy and it's _embarrassing_ ," Didi reminded him.

"You say it's embarrassing when you've never gone through anything similar!" Stu shouted. "I'm going through a lot, Deed, please just pay no attention."

The woman sighed and deduced that there was nothing that she could do about it. With this information in her head, she opened the door to reveal the king standing right there, a smile on his face.

"Why, hello, Didi," Peter said.

"Oh, hello there, Peter," Didi said, being too tired to refer to him as 'sir.'

"Bad day?" Peter asked.

"Oh, Peter, you don't even know the half of it," she said, leading him into their house. "Stu has been going _crazy_ about having to make a new toy in time for the Fourth of July, and because of the news of a firework ban by the fourth of July. Did you hear about that?"

"Yes, yes I did," Peter told her as they walked into the kitchen. "Even as a king, though, there isn't much that they'll allow me to do about it. I have very little choice; I just watch what they're doing and make sure that they're doing it right."

As Peter continued telling Didi about how he wished that he could do something about the firework ban, though couldn't, the Rugrats had finally found their way into the TV room.

"Okay, looks like we're here," Zack acknowledged.

"Now we just need to turn on the TV," Tommy said. "Uh, where's the remote?"

Only about a second later did they hear grunting. All of the kids turned around to see Phil and Lil fighting over the remote.

"It's _mine,_ Phillip," Lil insisted, gripping onto it.

"No it isn't, _Lillian,_ cuz I founded it first," Phil argued.

Zack sighed and rolled his eyes. Sometimes, just _sometimes,_ he wondered why he was even friends with them. However, once he thought that, a second later he would remember that everyone had their flaws, including he himself. While the twins did indeed argue far too much, a fact that they all agreed with, they were still great friends and funny people to be around.

"Phil, Lil, it doesn't matter who found it first," Zack told them matter-of-factly. "What matters is that we all need the remote to get on with our plan. So, if you may, could you let go of it?"

Realizing that the boy, though younger, was right, they dropped the remote. Jesse, smiling, went over to it and picked it up.

"Now, from my understanding, TV works with channels," Jesse reminded them.

"That's right, Jesse, it does," Zack agreed. "We just gots to figure out what channel the news airs on."

"Zack's right," Tommy concurred. "Jesse, why don't you change the channels until we're on the news?"

Jesse nodded, and channel surfed until they finally found a news station that they all thought would have accurate news.

"There we go!" Zack shouted. "Stop right there!"

He stopped at that channel, and they all sat down together to see who was in charge of the fireworks ban.

"The mayor, Hilton…" Brady Simpson began, although the Rugrats stopped listening and began talking right about there.

" _That's_ what we're looking for," Jesse deduced.

"Yeah, but we still don't know where she lives," Zack reminded them before the conversation could continue any further.

"Darn," Phil said, snapping his fingers. "He's right."

They all sat there for a moment, thinking, when suddenly Kimi came up with an idea.

"I got it!" Kimi exclaimed.

Shocked by this sudden outburst, they all turned to look at her.

"Tommy, didn't your mommy say that the king Peter would be comin' over?"

"Well, yeah," Tommy told her.

"Doesn't Peter work with the mayor or somethin'?" Kimi asked.

"I think she does," Zack said.

"Well then, can't we just ask him where she lives?" Kimi asked them. "I mean, he's our friend, so he'd tell us for sure!"

"Even though I agree, Kimi, we can't be so sure that he'll tell us," Zack reminded her. "Some information is 'sposed to be secret."

"Awe, Zack, that's nothin' that a little convincin' can't fix," Tommy declared.

"Tell me, Tommy, would you like a stranger – which is what we are to the mayor – asking for where you live?" Zack asked, crossing his arms.

"Well, uh, no, but" –

"There _are_ no buts, Tommy," Zack insisted.

Phil and Lil giggled at Zack's usage of the word 'but.'

"He said butts," Lil said.

"I said it in a different way," Zack, once again, insisted. "And this is serious! Something that Tommy's daddy cares about could be in danger, and yet you guys are joking."

After feeling that he had gotten his point across, the toddler sighed.

"Listen, guys, I guess we can try asking Peter where the mayor lives, but don't expect him to give us a good answer."

They nodded and, feeling that it didn't have to be said, crawled into the living room.

"I'm pretty sure that Peter is here already, because I hear a boy voice that I don't recognize as daddy's and certainly not mommy's," Tommy told his friends.

It turned out that Tommy was indeed right, since once they all crawled to the doorway, one behind the other so that the adults couldn't see them and wonder why they were out of the playpen, they saw Peter.

"Okay, Tommy, looks like you're right, Peter's in there," Zack whispered.

"Oh, no, what if the growed ups see us and we get in troubles?" Chuckie asked.

"Calm down, Chuckie, if you stay so scared then they will see us," Zack whispered back.

Chuckie, obliviously not wanting such a thing to happen, tried to keep his mouth shut.

Tommy and Zack, however, tried their best to signal Peter. It took a few tries, but Peter eventually saw them. At first, he thought that perhaps he were hallucinating, until they did it twice more. Realizing that no, he was not hallucinating, he glanced back over to Didi, who was attempting to calm her husband down.

"Stu, Didi, may I be excused?" Peter asked.

"Oh, please, sir, don't leave simply because Stu has gone insane," Didi insisted.

"Oh, no, Deed, that is not the case at all," Peter swore. "I simply have to go to the restroom."

While the king felt bad for lying to Didi, he had a feeling that if the Rugrats had escaped from their playpen, then whatever they had to ask him was serious.

Didi, actually believing the king, felt embarrassed, as she had incorrectly assumed. However, she had thought that it would be right to assume that her husband was the reason why a king would feel the need to be assumed; after all, it must be rather uncomfortable for a fourteen-year old male to watch as her middle-aged husband ran around the house.

"Well, alright, then," Didi said. "Yes, Peter, you may be excused."

Peter nodded and, still feeling bad, got up from his seat and went outside to see the Rugrats.

"What do you guys need?" Peter whispered, hoping that Stu's screaming would block out from his own voice.

"Well, Peter, we were wonderin' if you know the mayor," Tommy told him.

At the thought of the mayor, whom Peter had forgotten about for a few hours, Peter scrunched his eyebrows together. Unfortunately, for the king of Confederacy, there was still a "mayor." This 'mayor' however was not exactly a mayor. Only to those who felt that a town such as Yucaipa needed a president as opposed to a king, did they consider the woman to be a mayor. Of course, this meant that Peter and the 'mayor' were not even close to being friends. While the mayor made it regular to insult Peter at her meetings, Peter tried not to insult her, and if he did, he at least attempted to make the insult subtle. The 'mayor' never tried to do that. She was always insulting him, even saying his name directly a few times.

As much as he'd like to have her banned from Yucaipa, not only was half of the town on _her_ side, while the other half had taken his, Peter, despite legally being a king, could not ban for verbal abuse. He, however, would like to have that law changed, because he wanted this 'mayor' out of town.

"Peter?" Kimi asked. "Peter?"

Realizing that he had not responded to the Rugrats yet, he glanced back at them.

"Yes, I know the 'mayor,'" Peter said, trying not to sound too angry.

It seemed, though, that very few of them had realized that Peter was even remarkably angry.

"Oh, well, do ya know where she lives?" Phil asked.

Peter noticeably calmed at this, although this would not stop him from being surprised.

"Yes, why?" Peter asked.

"It's a surprise," Lil said.

"Well, I really can't tell you guys unless you tell me for what, because, even though I don't really like the mayor, what you're asking is private information, and I could get into big trouble, along with you guys," Peter explained.

"See!" Zack exclaimed. "I told you guys!"

"Oh, well, sorry for botherin' ya, Peter," Tommy said.

Peter was about to say something else, until he decided that perhaps it had just been an argument between them, and he could help them solve it after he finished with tea.

He didn't, however, know how wrong he was.


	4. Chapter Four

Author's note: Here is another chapter! I apologize for being so slow on the updates. I will attempt to speed this story up by uploading a chapter tonight (it's nearly twelve am here) and, if possible, two chapters tomorrow. Anyway, let me waste no more time boring you, and let's get to the actual chapter!

I expect this story to be finished in about two chapters. I'll upload both this chapter and chapter five today, then the last chapter, chapter six, tomorrow afternoon. As for my story 'Happy Birthday Tommy,' that will hopefully be completed today.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rugrats nor its character. Zack belongs to celrock, Jesse belongs to Jesse Barrow Stories, and Peter belongs to TCKing12, currently going by the name PatchythePirate1999.

 **Another fourth of July!**

 **Chapter Four**

After having a rather confusing talk with the babies, Peter returned to his seat in the kitchen, where Stu was still stressing out. Even his own wife seemed to be tired of it by now.

"Stu, it's not all that bad," Didi attempted to assure him.

"Not all that bad?" Stu shouted in reply. "Deed, it's almost the first of July! I barely have anytime! In fact, it's five-thirty in the afternoon on this day! Do you know how close that is to July fourth? Huh, Deed? _Do_ you?"

The king, realizing that perhaps he could be a help, glanced up at Stu and, without announcing his arrival into the kitchen, gave the best advice that he could.

"Stu, perhaps if you actually got to work on that toy of yours now and stopped focusing on stopping the firework ban, then things won't be so bad for you on the Fourth of July," Peter explained.

Stu and Didi both stopped in their steps, having completely forgotten that the _king of Confederacy_ was in their home.

"Oh, my, Peter, I apologize, we didn't realize that you were here," Didi said.

"Yeah," Stu agreed.

"You are right, though," Didi said with a smile. "Stu, you should take Peter's advice. Surely someone else will do something about the firework ban."

Stu sighed.

"Well, if it's coming from a king…"

"I assure you, Stu, I have just given you some of my best advice," Peter told him. "Now, if you want a successful July Fourth toy, I suggest that you go down to your basement and begin making it."

Stu, deciding that there was no point in arguing with a king or his wife, strolled down to the basement. Once he was gone, Didi looked up at Peter, sighed, and smiled.

"So, would you like to continue tea with a discussion?" Didi asked.

"I'd be pleased to, Deed," Peter told her, taking his seat and sipping some of his tea.

Meanwhile, the Rugrats were, in the most simple of words, lost at what to do. Their former plan had failed, and they were currently back in the playpen trying to come up with another plan.

"I told you guys that it wouldn't work," Zack complained.

"Yeah, sorry bout that, Zack," Tommy apologized. "But guys, we still can't give up! We gots a Fourth of July to save! 'Member?"

"Yeah, but we can't save the Fourth of July without a plan," Phil acknowledged.

"That's why we gots to come up with a plan," Tommy reminded him. "C'mon, guys! We can't give up! A baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do, 'member?"

Zack sighed.

"Tommy's right, guys," Zack said. "Even though our last plan failed, we still have to try, or else we'd just be quitters."

"Yucky quitters!" Dil said.

"That's right, Dilly," Tommy said. "Quitters are yucky."

"Awe, so does that mean that I can't quit already?" Chuckie asked.

"No, Chuckie, cuz quitting isn't any fun," Kimi remarked. "C'mon, you're three! Someday you'll be real old like Tommy's grandpa and you're gonna be sad cuz you spent most of your years sitting here all alone, with no fun 'cept for that ball. You don't want that, do ya?"

Chuckie shook his head vigorously.

"Okay then, I guess that means that everyone wants to do this… or at least agreed to it," Zack acknowledged. "Okay, so while Kimi gave Chuckie that… uh, what's it called? Well, I'll just call it a talk for now, yeah. While Kimi gave Chuckie that talk, I came up with a plan."

Everyone's faces brightened up, since in truth, most of them thought that Zack's plans were the best. They were usually not only intelligent plans, although they also had an excellent amount of adventure in them. In other words, Zack's plans usually described him in general.

"Okay, so my Aunt Celeste once told me that the mayor usually has meetings and stuff," Zack explained. "And I heard her saying this morning that the mayor is having a meeting at the park today to officially ban fire works. We gots to be there."

"That's a good idea, Zack," Kimi said. "But we should draw the pictures firstest."

The little blonde boy nodded, and they all began drawing their pictures, each including a picture of fireworks, which they had all seen go off before.

Once they were finished, they all showed Zack their pictures. He smiled at each and every one of them.

"I think they're good enough," Zack decided. "Now, let's continue our plan. What are we gonna ride in?"

It was soon agreed that they would ride on Reptar, whom Tommy had gotten for his birthday.

"I already had the bestest birthday ever, and I'm pretty sure that now, I, along with you guys, am gonna have the bestest Fourth of July ever!" Tommy said. "C'mon, babies, let's get in Reptar!"

RUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATS

I apologize for this being such a crappy and rushed chapter, although I am seriously tired. While I enjoy writing stories, I really kind of don't enjoy taking a six hour nap and waking up at seven pm, only to realize that I have two stories to finish pretty soon. I swear, after July ends, I am going to stop putting dates on my stories, especially if I, on that day, realize that I can't even live up to the dates.


	5. Chapter Five

Author's note: This is the last chapter that I am uploading of _any_ story today. I am, as I mentioned at the end of the last chapter, grumpy, although I'm writing this to make you guys happy because you guys are my good friends.

After I upload this chapter, I'm going to try to finishing writing celrock's Rugrats challenge and perhaps upload it on the twelfth or thirteenth , then I'm going to eat dinner ( _please_ don't ask why I eat dinner at ten pm), and I'm finally heading off to bed, around eleven pm. I need beauty rest, too. Oh, and I'm also going to reply to any fanfiction messages that I received tomorrow, because hopefully by tomorrow I'll have had a good night's rest, and maybe I won't be so grumpy. That also gives me another story idea for a one-shot that I might do in late July or August, but I'm NOT putting an exact date on it because I won't live up to it. I know I won't.

Please, though, if I send you any messages, don't respond to them immediately because not only is there a good chance that I won't even answer until tomorrow afternoon or night, but my iPad turns on at night if I receive a message, or, even worse, if I receive an email, and that annoys the living crap out of me because it disturbs my sleep. If you do end up accidentally replying, then please wait until it's early in the morning.

Anyway, if you've finished reading that long rant, then why don't we actually move onto chapter five?

Crazy chapter here, ay?

 **Another Fourth of July!**

 **Chapter five**

After Zack had decided that their drawings were cute enough, mainly liking Kimi's, they found Tommy's Reptar doll that Peter had given him for his second birthday on the couch. Tommy was about to click on the button, although Chuckie stopped him.

"Tommy, it's gonna go through your roof if ya do that," Chuckie reminded him.

"Oh, yeah," Tommy remembered, instead setting his Reptar doll on the floor.

The two-year old boy then clicked on the button while the others watched in glee as the small robotic Reptar doll turned into a large robotic version of Reptar.

"Wow," Jesse whispered. "This is what Tommy gotted for his second birthday?"

"Uh huh," Kimi whispered back. "Isn't it just amazing?"

Once he was pretty sure that the Reptar doll was now of its full size, he smiled.

"Jump in, babies!" Tommy shouted.

They all climbed in. The last two in were Tommy and Dil. Dil could've gotten on earlier, although he still couldn't walk and couldn't talk to them much, either, so Tommy ended up carrying his brother onto the robotic Reptar.

Since this one had been made by a king, this robotic Reptar was noticeably different and better. There were actually seatbelts and car seats now, which made the whole experience safer. This seemed to calm Chuckie's worries.

"Can someone turn down the volume of Reptar so that the growed ups don't know that we're on here?" Tommy asked.

Zack nodded, and turned down the volume of Reptar's steps considerably.

"Thanks Zack!" Tommy shouted.

"You're welcome, Tommy," Zack told him, taking a seat between Kimi and Chuckie.

"Before I start Reptar, I gots to do what my mommy and daddy always do and make sure that everyone's buckled in," Tommy explained. "So, is everyone buckled in?"

The Rugrats, understanding what he meant, were either already buckled in or buckled in after he asked. Since Dil was too little to buckle himself in, Chuckie, being the good best friend he was, got up and buckled in Tommy's younger brother for him.

"Yep," they all responded.

"Great!" Tommy said, as Chuckie sat back next to him and helped him control the handles.

They began moving, which all the Rugrats, especially Zack and Jesse, found to be an exciting experience.

"Isn't this so cool?" Kimi asked Zack.

"Yeah, it really is," Zack said with a smile.

"I still can't believe that we're doing this," Chuckie said.

Phil and Lil were in the back, making sure that Reptar had enough fuel, while the others were pretty much there just to look around.

"Awe, calm down, Chuckie, it's been fun so far, hasn't it?" Tommy asked, looking out the 'window' while Chuckie controlled Reptar. "Sides, we're almost there! I can tell cuz my mommy takes me to the park all the time!"

"Yeah, Tommy's right," Zack agreed. "We are almost there."

"Ooh, I really like the park," Kimi said.

"What if we get in trouble by our mommies and daddies?" Chuckie asked worriedly.

Kimi rolled her eyes playfully.

"Chuckie, we never get in troubles," Kimi reminded him.

"That's true, but what if we get in troubles this time?" Chuckie asked.

"Chuckie, don't be a worrywart," Zack told him. "Just have some fun for now."

"Guys, we're here!" Tommy shouted. "Chuckie, move in a bit closer, and let's get out!"

Chuckie sighed, nodded, and, using the control panels, made Reptar walk ahead. They indeed found that they were in the right place, although the huge Reptar robot scared many people.

"Alright, now we exit," Zack reminded them.

They each began to walk out of the robot after Tommy clicked a button to make the door open.

"Look Mommy, aliens!" a little girl shouted.

However, her words went unheard by the Rugrats, because Phil and Lil were too busy fighting with each other.

"No, I should get off first because I'm a lady and mommy always says ladies first!" Lil argued.

"Well, I'm younger, which means that I, as your little twin brother, should go firstest," Phil decided.

"Ladies first!"

"Younger kids first!"

" _Ladies_!"

" _Younger_!"

" _Ladies_!"

" _Younger!"_

"Guys, stop," Zack told them. "Really. It's getting annoying."

"Zack's right, we didn't come here for you guys to argue, we came here to show them our pictures," Tommy reminded them. "In fact, let's go up there right now and show them!"

"Oh, guys, are you so sure about this?" Chuckie asked, but it was too late. Kimi and Zack had already gotten out their bag of pictures that they had carried.

Chuckie sighed, and they all slowly walked up to the stairs, where the woman who was passing herself off as the mayor was standing.

Immediately, Phil decided that he kind of liked the mayor. She had strawberry blonde hair that was put into a short ponytail, and one might assume that her hair was a bit longer than shoulder length. While she was not 'curvy' per say, she certainly did had curves. Her head was a bit big, though that was no matter to Phil. He was sure that he had a crush on her.

"We can't make no 'nouncement because the growed ups can't understand all of us yet," Zack whispered. "Kimi and Chuckie can tell them somethin', though."

The mayor looked down at all of the Rugrats, which made them a bit nervous, but they – most of them, stood up out of bravery. Chuckie cowered on the floor, in fear.

"Umm… this is rather odd," the mayor said, glancing back to back from her confused and somewhat frightened audience to the nervous and frightened babies. "I certainly did not expect to see a few children… babies or toddlers, I'm assuming, to come from a _huge_ Reptar robot… heh, heh. Do you children have anything to… s-say?"

She was clearly frightened, as the occurrence of around ten babies was _not_ something that happened every day.

Kimi, however, decided that it was time to use her 'speaking' skills, so she smiled and said, "Uh huh."

"It appears that one of them can talk," the mayor announced. "What do you have to show us?"

They pointed to their bag full of pictures, with Chuckie cowering in fear.

"Oh, it appears that there's something in the bag. May I see it, sweetie?"

Kimi giggled and nodded.

The mayor took the back from her, reached into it, and slowly pulled out the first picture, which belonged to Zack. It was a picture of fireworks going up in the air on the Fourth of July, and Zack had drawn himself smiling. He had also drawn, on the side, a picture of no fireworks and him crying while his Aunt Celeste attempted to calm him.

Feeling a bit disappointed in herself, she moved onto other pictures, hoping that they wouldn't make her feel as guilty as Zack's had.

She was wrong, though, and they did make her feel guiltier about banning fireworks. That, mixed with the fact that she was under a lot of pressure and simply had a lot of problems going on in life, made her do what she did next.

She began crying. No one had expected it. Even the paparazzi held off their pictures for now, as though this was surprising and good for more views, even they, under their cold exterior, had hearts.

The Rugrats felt terrible, and assumed that they had made her cry.

"I-I feel like the terriblest person on the planet," Kimi whispered, prepared to cry herself.

"Y-Yeah," Tommy agreed.

Chuckie, however, had no shame in crying on national television.

"I feel like the worstest person in the world!" Chuckie shouted.

"Oh, no, kids, it's not you," she told them through her tears. "It's me! It's all me and my stupid partner, Nick!"

"What?" Zack asked.

"Nick has been forcing me to do things for him because we're engaged!" she shouted, seemingly not caring that there were children there. "And he's always hated fireworks, so he _made_ me ban them!"

Meanwhile, in the Pickles home, Stu had just finished making his new toy, and ran upstairs to announce it to Didi and Peter.

"Hey, you guys!" Stu shouted. "I made my fireworks toy! They are gonna love it!"

Peter and Didi glanced up from their lunch, and smiled once they saw Stu's toy.

"Stu, as a king, I must say that your toy will indeed be a bestseller," Peter told Stu.

"I've got to go show the kids!"

Stu ran into the room, only to scream once he saw that the kids weren't there. After hearing such a scream, Peter walked into the room.

"What is wrong, Stu… oh, _my_."

Indeed, the kids were all missing. However, Peter was sure that he knew what to do, and turned on the television set.

"Peter?" Stu shouted frantically. "What are you doing?"

"Please, Stu, give me a second, I'm sure that I can identify the Rugrats' belongings," Peter insisted.

"Identify their belongings? HOW?"

"Stu, you surely are being frantic, it's becoming irritat…"

Before the fourteen-year old king could finish his sentence, he saw the mayor and the Rugrats crying on television.

"Oh my god!" Stu shouted.

"Oh, those little Rugrats," Peter mumbled, angry at both them and himself. "I should've known that they would do something crazy like this."

About a moment after this, Didi walked in.

"What's all the ruck – AGH!"

She had taken one glance at the television screen and realized that those were the _children that she was supposed to be watching on television_!

"Stu, Peter, get in the car!"

Neither of them argued with her, and ran outside as quickly as they could, hopping into the car. Didi hit the breaks before she was even sure that they were buckled in, and drove as quickly as she could. After about five minutes, they all arrived at the park, and got out of the car.

Even on her red pumps, Didi ran as quickly as she could, not caring that she could trip. Once she had reached the stairs, she began crying tears of joy, and hugged them all. Peter did not realize that the mayor was there, and walked up the stairs, scolding the Rugrats.

"You guys could've gotten seriously hurt, and the robot, you took the robot," Peter scolded.

"Next time tell mommy or daddy before you wanna go," Didi whimpered, hugging them.

"I am so glad to see you guys!" Stu cried.

Turns out that the crying was contagious, as everyone began crying, either tears of joy, sadness, or… just tears of confusion.

The 'mayor,' realizing that Peter was there, walked over to him.

"Sir, I'd like to put our rivalry behind us, as I've realized that I don't want to run against you anymore," the mayor told him.

Peter, although still crying, managed to give her a sad smile.

"I'd like that, though I am not sure if I can trust you after all you did. I mean, you went against me for nearly a year."

"It's a _long_ story as to why I did. Would you like to discuss it over a beverage soon? Tea, perhaps?"

"Oh, yes, I love tea, and I'd love to do that, as well as get to know you more, miss… what was your name? I do not believe that you ever stated it."

The blonde woman giggled.

"That's because I didn't, but my name is Melanie, and I hope that we can get along."

Peter smiled at this.

"I hope we can too, Melanie. I hope we can too."

Meanwhile, Stu was having people sign up to buy his toy, which, by the way, was a talking bear with a flag that would tell kids how the independence was signed, while Didi put the kids in the car with a watery smile.

It, for once, seemed that everything would be alright.


	6. Epilogue

Author's note: Before I write this chapter, I would like to apologize for any harshness in the last chapter. At the time of writing, I did not think that I was being harsh, as I had been ranting. Now that I've re-read what I said, I must apologize for taking it all out on you guys, as sometimes, in author's notes, I forget that you guys are actually reading them. One of my friends brought up this issue in our chat, making me realize that yes, I was being harsh in the last chapter, especially when I rudely told you guys not to send me messages at night. I hadn't thought that it would come across as rude in any form, as I had been tired and mentioned that I was grumpy at the time. However, now I realize my mistake in that.

I'm also sorry for the gross part in this chapter.

If you are reading this right now and haven't read chapter five, I suggest that you go back and read it, or else you might not understand a few things.

This is now known as the only chapter of a story that I've been able to complete in less than an hour. Perhaps that's because of this chapter's length, however.

The epilogue takes place from Tommy's POV. Oh, my, am I terrible at writing from his POV.

Disclaimer: I do not own Rugrats. Zack belongs to celrock, Jesse belongs to Jesse Barrow, Peter belongs to TCKing12, and currently going by the username PatchythePirate1999, and Melanie belongs to me.

 **Another Fourth of July!**

 **Epilogue**

 **Tommy's POV**

After we saved fire works, the Fourth of July was real great.

Everybody came over to my house, and daddy made barbecue. Once we actually eated it, it tasted real good! My Uncle Drew also made hamburgers, which everyone gotted a bite of. They were real juicy, and mommy only let me eat a half of it.

The real yucky part of it was when Angelica had too much chicken, and she throwed up everywhere. Since nobody wanted this wonderful night to end because of _Angelica_ , our babysitter, Taffy, took care of her. But, Taffy got to eat some chicken too and she had a whole burger, so it was okay for her.

We finished up our chicken and our half a burger, and we all thought it was real good, 'specially Zack and Jesse, which was kinda funny, cuz we didn't the both meet them that long ago. I think they're gonna be the bestest of friends, like me and Chuckie are!

"Wow, Tommy, your daddy sure knows how to make barbecue," Jesse said. Then he burped. "'Scuse me!"

We all giggled at that, and Jesse joined us in on laughing. Then Zack said what he had to say about my daddy's cooking, which, is, like Jesse said, real good.

"I still think that the burgers were better," Zack said. "They were real thick and juicy!"

"Yeah, I liked both!" Kimi said happily.

Kimi's always happy, though, so it wasn't really a surprise. But today everyone was happy… well, maybe 'cept for Angelica, cuz she gotted sick on the Fourth of July and all. She always seems to agree with everyone, too. It's just a part of her, I guess.

Not too long after that, our mommies and daddies came over and picked us up. They gived us each a teddy bear with a flag on it that speaks when you press its tummy. None of us it liked it that much, 'cept for Zack who thought that it could help us learn, Kimi who kinda likes everything, and Lil because it was prettiful.

"I like Wawa better," Chuckie said.

"I like Alphi better," I said.

If you don't know, Alphi is the stuffed bear that Chuckie got me for my secondest birthday. I named him that cuz of a TV show. I wanted the name to be special, like Wawa is.

It turns out that a lot of other babies liked it a lot, since daddy said that a lot of people wanted it. But, I guess that even though I don't really like it, I gotta give my daddy credit for trying.

As the sun went down, we all crawled up the hill, and just smiled at the sky, like I did last year.

And that's when what we all had been waiting for, the fireworks, went off. Since this was Zack's first time seeing them, his eyes went real wide.

"Wow!" Zack said. "Look at them go!"

"Yeah, the first time I sawed them I thought they were kinda scary, but now, thanks to Tommy, I know that they can't reach me," Chuckie said, smiling at me.

"Whoa, I can't wait till we're old enough to set off fireworks!" Kimi said, real happy.

"Me too!" Lil yelled.

"Me three!" Zack said.

"Me… whatever comes after three," Phil said.

And we all laughed, because this was just another perfect holiday! 

RUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATSRUGRATS

It looks like we're done with this story. Another multi-chaptered story completed! High five, buddy! *high fives* Anyway, now I'm going on to update my two stories 'Times Between Us' and then 'Moments' before eating dinner. After that, I'll return to answer your messages, watch 'Baby Races,' a show recommended to me by celrock, I'll PM her about it, and then I'm heading off to bed!

So, out of all my stories on my profile, which one would you like me to start next? (I recently finished 'Bad Haircut,' and I'll upload that story in a few days.)


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